The Red Magatama
by The Scollard
Summary: Dahlia always thought it was weird that she could see things, all the secrets and lies that other people held. A series of vignettes taking place over Dahlia's lifetime. Spoilers for T&T. Rated T for dark themes.


**The Red Magatama**

**By The Scollard**

**Summary: Dahlia always thought it was weird that she could see things, all the secrets and lies that other people held. A series of vignettes taking place over Dahlia's lifetime. Spoilers for T&T. Rated T for dark themes.**

She felt the wind rush through her red hair, as she and Iris ran through the village. They were playing tag with some of the other children from the village. Even in games like these, the two of them were inseparable. They were twins, after all. They ran down one of the patios and turned a corner. Suddenly, Dahlia heard a cry. Iris had tripped. Dahlia picked up and brushed off her twin sister, who was sobbing. She had scraped her knee. The two of them walked back to their house, abandoning the game to find their mother. The moment they entered the door, they found the woman right on the other side, with a look of surprise on her face.

"Iris. Dahlia" she said, before tussling each of the twins' hair, "I was just about to go look for you. I have something important to talk to you about."

Her mother's voice was the sweetest. Her face kept that bright smile even when she noticed Iris' knee. She carefully picked up the little girl and walked over to a bench, sitting her down before she got a bandage to put over the scrape. Dahlia followed her the entire time, scared for Iris, and wanting to help her mother the best she could. Her mother allowed her to put the bandage on her sister. She did so as carefully as she could, her mother and Iris smiling at her the entire time. Dahlia sat up beside Iris when she was done, her mother told the two she had important gifts for them.

"Now," she said, from one of the other rooms as she rummaged through the drawers, "it is tradition for daughters in Kurain to receive a gift when they reach your age. You two have little spiritual power, so I was wondering whether or not I should wait until you're older, but I decided to do this now."

Both sisters were on the edge of their seats as their mother reentered the room, carrying a small black box. She knelt down and opened the box in front of them. She took out two trinkets, and handed one to each of the girls. It was weird. It was green, and was shaped like a weird nine.

"What is it, mommy?" Dahlia asked, examining the strange amulet.

"It's a Magatama, Dahlia" her mother said, "It's the symbol of the Fey clan and the Kurain channeling technique."

Her mother leaned in close to the two, and smiled.

"Also, some say that it has special powers" she whispered to the twins, "Some say that it can show you whether someone is keeping secrets from you or lies to you."

Their mother left them in order to get back to her duties, she said. Both of them spent the rest of the day examining their Magatamas, comparing them, and generally feeling happy together.

* * *

Dahlia sat on her bed, keeping hold of her Magatama in her hand. It had been a couple years since her mother gave it to her, and so many things changed in the village since then. The master, her aunt, had run away. The relationship between her mother and father had soured, to the point where they'd occasionally start yelling at each other in the house. They were currently having one of those fights right now. She could hear the yelling through the wall. She stayed in her room, however, and eventually, the yelling stopped. She heard her door slid open, and looked up, expecting to see one of her parents. It was only Iris, though, her hair black as midnight. Her sister quietly slid through the door, before closing it as softly as she could.

"Dahlia" her sister said in a whisper.

"Iris" she said, worried, "What is it?"

"I… I don't know" she said, "Dad just wanted me to speak with you."

"Is anything wrong?" she asked.

"No…" her sister said, stuttering, "No… Nothing at all."

Suddenly, it was as though the room went black. A red lock appeared over her sister's chest, held in place by chains attached to its four corners.

_CLANK!_

She felt a loud locking sound echo through her head.

"Dahlia" her sister asked, "What is it?"

Her view of her room returned as the black faded. She realized that her expression had changed to one of absolute shock. She calmed herself down. Was she seeing things? What were these locks? She remembered her conversation with her mother all those years ago. Maybe this is what she meant when she said that it would show whether people were keeping secrets from you. If so, then that lock must represent a lie of some sort.

"Iris, don't lie to me" she said, her voice firm, "What's wrong?"

Her sister's composure dropped. Tears which she had been holding in started pouring out from her eyes. She started sobbing.

"Iris, what's wrong?" she said, her expression changing to worry.

"Mommy and Daddy are getting a divorce" she said, between her sobs, "Daddy taking us with him because Mommy doesn't want us."

Dahlia's expression of shock returned. The news didn't surprise her; she should have known something like this was coming. Tears started coming out of her eyes as well. She got off her bed and hugged her sister. Both of them comforted the other, as the two of them cried together.

The lock didn't disappear though.

* * *

"…your sister is one of the most sad and sickly things I have ever seen" her father said, hands on the wheel of his car as he drove her to school, "Another bill for medicine from the doctor because she decided to play outside in the rain. I swear, your twin will be the cause of my eventual bankruptcy."

Her father was angry. Iris caught another bad cold. He was complaining a lot recently, about how having three daughters would eventually force him out onto the street. She was used to her father's outbursts. Ever since he had divorced their mother and taking both her and Iris with him, he had become more irritable than she remembering him being. When they left the village, he used his money from his job as a jeweler to purchase a big house for the three of them to live in. He had eventually met and started dating another woman, who, like him, had children from a previous marriage. They had also since married. The twins had another sister now, Valerie, who was three years older than the two of them. Her relationship with her family had changed since they moved. There were a lot more locks, nowadays. She turned her head to look at her father as she fiddled with her Magatama. He was covered with them, some red, and others black. She didn't see what the difference was between the two. She had tried counting them all, but quickly gave up. Some of the locks were bigger than the others. The worst part was the locks that every day she saw over Iris' heart. Her sister never used to lie to her, so why was she now? She guessed that they were all different people, having changed in the past year or two. The only things that stayed the same were the locks. There were locks over her new mother, locks over her father, her sister, her friends. She had even begun seeing locks appear over her own heart. She felt she didn't know her sister anymore. She desperately wanted their relationship to be like it was when they were younger, but she knew that that could never happen.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with that girl" her father said, starting up another diatribe.

"If you complain so much about her, why don't you just get rid of her? Send her to a temple or something" Dahlia interjected, not wanting to hear another of her father's rants.

"…You know" he said, "That might actually work. That's a good idea, Dahlia."

Dahlia's expression changed to one of shock. She hadn't expected that her father would actually consider giving Iris away. What had she done? The two of them spent the rest of the drive in silence. Her father was probably thinking of a place to leave Iris, while Dahlia thought about what would happen if Iris left. She knew her father, and so she knew that Iris would most likely be gone within the month. She thought about it. Maybe it was better that way. The sisters were growing apart, so maybe if Iris left, Dahlia could remember her sister on a somewhat happy note. She wouldn't have to see more and more locks appear over her sister. She could remember when she was somewhat trustworthy.

* * *

"Doesn't it look beautiful?" her father said, examining the jewel that currently lay on the kitchen table.

"What is it?" Valerie asked.

"A diamond, worth roughly two million dollars" her father said.

"What will we do with it?" Valerie's mother asked.

"That… I haven't decided yet" her father said.

"How did you manage to get it?" Dahlia asked, entering the conversation.

"I bought it off a man who was looking to sell it. He saw no value in it, so I managed to pay much less than its true worth to acquire it" he said.

"Did you really get it so honestly" Dahlia asked, skeptical.

"Yes," her father said, "of course I did."

_CLANK!_

Another lock appeared. She should have been expecting it. Her father was not the most honest man when it came to business, but he didn't have to lie to her. She immediately went up to her room, leaving the three of them to "oooh" and "aaah" over the jewel. The moment she lay in her bed, she started crying. She had been having so many problems lately, and they all seemed to crash down over her at this moment. She had left school, and was currently being tutored at home. She couldn't stand school, and all the other kids. For one, she hated all the locks she could see around her supposed "friends". She couldn't trust anybody there, even the teachers she liked, and wanted to trust, lied to her daily. Also, all the other children thought she was weird. Maybe it was the way she looked at them because _she knew _exactly what type of people they truly were. Maybe it was because of what happened to Iris, there was a rumor that had gone around that Dahlia had killed her. Anyway, she was a loner. She didn't mind though, as she much preferred the company of herself than any of those liars. She got tired of seeing the locks, and so she asked her father is she could stop going. He tried to inquire as to what was wrong, but he wouldn't understand. Only she saw the locks, not Iris, not him, only her. Losing Iris hurt her more than she had expected. It felt as though part of her was ripped away. She hated herself for what she had said to her father, that which made him send Iris to the temple. She still kept partly in touch with her sister, and she heard from her that life at the temple was nice. She wished she could go there as well. She heard her door creak open.

"Dahlia" Valerie said, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Val" she replied, "It's just him. Dad, I mean."

"Yeah" her older stepsister said, "I completely understand. I don't see why he lies to me, or why he's dishonest in general. I am eventually going to become a detective, so I don't see why he can't be honest with me."

"I'm tired of it too" Dahlia said.

"He's nice, I'll give him that" Valerie said, "But he just isn't a good person."

Good person. Dahlia paused to think on the idea. Then suddenly, the revelation hit her. She finally realized what the locks were trying to tell her the entire time. There are no good people. The very idea of a good person is a lie. Everybody she ever met had locks over their hearts, had secrets they kept and lies they told other people. The idea made sense to her; Iris lied, so she wasn't good. Valerie, her father, her mother, they all lied. Hell, even she had locks her own, so she wasn't a good person. She was so caught up in her thinking that she didn't even notice that Valerie had left the room. She dried her tears and picked up her Magatama, which was on her nightstand. She still had to have it close to see the locks, but she didn't need to be touching it anymore. She looked at it, studied it, and played around with it a bit. The trinket gave her courage and resolve. She quietly thanked it for all it had done for her, showing her how people truly were. Of course, she had to decide what to do next. It was in that moment when she thought about the priceless jewel. Her father had essentially stolen it from a man, so… wouldn't it be okay if she stole it. Stealing from a thief; that was alright, wasn't it? Some of the books she had read would agree with her. However, her thoughts turned to why in the world she would want to steal the jewel in the first place. Well, she could fake her death and use the money to get away from these liars, these bad and selfish people she called family. She decided that she would see this little idea of hers through, but how would she do it? She couldn't just steal the jewel. Maybe she could pretend to kidnapped, with the jewel as ransom. If so, then she would need accomplices. Who? She first thought about Valerie. She was disgusted with her father as much as Dahlia was, so perhaps she would help. Her connections with the police could help the plan run smoothly if she was involved. Now, who else could help? Maybe Terry, her tutor?

_NO! _She thought to herself. She trusted him less than she did her father. She had recently taken the activity of counting the amount of locks she saw on people, partially out of boredom, and partially to understand what was happening better. She had counted more locks on Terry than she had on her own father. What was that man hiding? What was he keeping from her? Anyway, she couldn't trust him, and didn't want to. However… they would need a scapegoat for the plan to work. The problem was, the scapegoat would probably be convicted of her death, and executed. She didn't really want to kill anybody. But Terry had all his lies and secrets, so he definitely wasn't a good person, and… well, killing bad people was good, so she learned in several books and movies. She pushed herself off the bed, and walked out of her room. She went down the hall to Valerie's room, and knocked on the door. She didn't like trusting people, but she would have to, for this to work. She felt that she could at least trust Valerie.

* * *

"So," Dahlia said, "you're planning on going through with it?"

"Yes, Dahlia" her stepsister said, holding her hands up in frustration, "I'm not going to let an innocent man die for you."

"He's not innocent, Valerie" Dahlia said, "No one is."

Her sister paused as she looked over Dahlia. Her sister was wearing a white jacket, and she was wearing a white sundress. Ironic, as both of them had done too many terrible things for the innocent and pure colour to fit them.

"What happened to you?" Valerie asked, worried, "You've changed so much."

What hadn't happened to her? Well, several things, but that wasn't the point. The moment she fell off that bridge five years ago, and into the waters of Eagle River, it was as though her old life was washed away by the waters. She had washed up on the shore near the temple where Iris lived. She had brought her sister into the plan later on, and the less said about that, the better. However, Iris did take care of her, even though she was a liar and a horrible person. She wondered if her sister felt sorry for her. That being said, when she left the temple, she moved to a small town across the state. There, she had managed to rent herself a small apartment, using the money she got from fencing the diamond. She had taken on the name Melissa Foster, and enrolled herself at the local high school. She attended, but didn't do much else, and didn't involve herself in the school community. She just went there, got good grades, and then came home. She didn't have any friends, nor did she try to make any. She could tell they were all liars; horrible people hiding under a veneer of nicety. She was tired of people like that, and, even though she was one of them, she admitted to herself that she was a terrible person, which made her better. For the past five years, when the school day had finished, she would do one of two things. One was getting groceries, usually avoiding other people, all of whom she hated. The other was staying her little apartment, sitting on her bed, and playing with the Magatama. She would talk to it, occasionally; however, it didn't talk back, thankfully. Sometimes she thought she was going crazy, however, those feelings would pass. Whether that was for better or for worse, Dahlia didn't know. She only kept in touch with Valerie, who she trusted, so one couldn't imagine her shock when Valerie told her of her little idea. Why would she save Terry, he was a good as dead. He wasn't worth saving, because nobody was. Dahlia understood the world, and the fact that all people were horrible and selfish. The only difference between them was how well they hid it. Therefore, the only reason Valerie was betraying her was for her own selfish desires. Dahlia could imagine what commendations and promotions her sister would receive if she brought in an escaped convict, and also proved his innocence of the capital crime he was to be executed for. Pathetic. Besides, she had… what was the term… covered all her bases, so Fawles wouldn't last that long even if Valerie saved him from execution. Since the moment she proposed that pact between them, she got the idea that Terry just wanted to die, in one way or another. Maybe he saw the locks too, and just wanted to leave the world where people like that could exist. No… that was impossible. Only she saw the locks. That's why she was like this. However, she just couldn't ignore Valerie's selfishness. The moment she heard her stepsister's plan, she started preparing. It wouldn't matter if Valerie died, because her sister was, like her, a terrible person. The difference is that Dahlia was more cunning, because she saw the world as it truly was. She looked at her sister, locks both black and red surrounding her. She could see the chains extending into nowhere. Her sister turned, and she took her chance. She plunged the knife right into Valerie's back. Ironic, in a way, as that was the very thing her sister had tried to do with her. Her sister cried out in shock, before eventually dying.

As Valerie took her last breaths, the locks around her disappeared. Dahlia looked on in wonder and amazement. She was tired of seeing the locks, and maybe, just maybe, this was a solution. She looked at her hands, there was blood all over them. She had just committed her first murder. It felt good, partially due to the fact that Valerie was dead, but also because the locks were finally gone. They had been tormenting her for so long, but now she had that moment of peace, where she couldn't see any. That moment was soon broken when she looked down at herself and saw her own locks, but it was nice nonetheless. She considered killing herself then, to make her own locks disappear like Valerie, but after a minute of holding the knife to her wrists, decided against it. She stepped forward. She had to wash her hands before she met with Terry.

Suddenly, she felt the Magatama slip from her pocket. It landed on the ground, safely in a soft pile of dirt. Well, dirt and her stepsister's blood. She reached down and picked it up. To her dismay, it was covered in blood. If anybody found this, that would be bad news for her. She went to wash both her hands and her amulet. She did a good job too; however, there was still the faint trace of red over the Magatama. Now, what would she about that?

* * *

She just stared at the red amulet, and thought on recent events. She was Dahlia Hawthorne again, somewhat to her dismay. At Terry's trial, a lawyer, Mia Fey, her cousin, believe it or not, had managed to both figure out her true identity, and reveal it to the court. Thankfully, she didn't have her Magatama with her at the time; the bloodstain could have got her convicted. Since then, she had the entire thing stained bright red, hiding the blood. It was unique, compared to the other blue and green ones she had seen, and she thought it was appropriate that it matched the colour of her hair. She didn't know if it was her who was cursed with the ability to see the locks, or if it was the amulet itself that gave her that ability. Since the trial, she had enrolled at Ivy University as a literature major. She had even gotten herself a boyfriend, though that was more caused by her needing to cover her tracks than her actually liking the guy. University didn't feel any different from high school. Never mind, in all actuality, it felt worse. She didn't need the Magatama to see the locks anymore. She could leave it at home, and as she walked to her classes, she could still see the locks around every person she passed. She wasn't sure if she was even seeing the lies and secrets they were keeping from her anymore, or if she was seeing all the lies they had ever told to anyone and all the secrets they had ever kept. It was overwhelming, just walking to her classes, not to mention when she had to meet her precious "boyfriend". That was one of the reasons she called Iris down. Her sister had always selfishly wanted to experience the city and university life, and Dahlia was more than glad to give her that chance. Dahlia would go to her classes, and do her work, and take the tests, while Iris would go out with her "friends" and date her boyfriend Phoenix Wright, or Feenie, as her sister called him. She wanted to trust her sister, but she just couldn't anymore. She had become a shut-in, not that it bothered her usually. Occasionally, she felt like she was going insane, but decided that if her lifestyle led to insanity, then she went insane long ago. She couldn't stand the locks anymore. They were everywhere. When she dreamed, she would dream of those red and black locks, of the chains that constrained her. She had no close contacts, except her sister, but even they weren't that close. Dahlia hadn't even told her about the locks. Her sister wouldn't understand her anyways, having lived her life at that cushy temple while Dahlia spent her teenage years in isolation and seclusion. However, she didn't want any people close to her. Everybody in her life had lied to her, and in some cases, betrayed her. She couldn't trust anybody, or anything, for that matter. The coffee pot was probably trying to kill her in some way or another, and the television was most definitely spying on her. Well, anything but the Magatama, which did the exact opposite. It showed her the lies people told her. It showed her what people truly were inside. Her sister had many more locks around her than when they were children. Even her boyfriend had several, both of the brightest red, like her hair, and of the darkest black, like her sister's. Everybody was selfish, and they would continue being selfish. Maybe Dahlia thought she could fight it once, but she had long since given up. She would be selfish, because that's what the world encouraged her to be. What the world encouraged everybody to be, and she couldn't fight it. She tossed the Magatama into the air, before catching it. It had been talking to her recently, and she talked back to it. It only told her what she already knew, and encouraged her to do things she had already planned. It occurred to Dahlia that sitting here in her room at the university residence was lonely. The thing is, she preferred the loneliness and solitude to the liars and cheats that waited outside, ready to prey on whatever people they could fool.

* * *

"Please tell me about yourself, Ms. Hawthorne" the man said, "I want to find out what 'makes you tick'".

He made finger quotes while he said that last phrase, before grabbing a pen and clipboard from the desk beside him. He looked at her impatiently when she didn't respond.

"Ms. Hawthorne," he said, annoyed, "this is a very serious matter. Your sentence will depend on what I make of you in these sessions."

"Fine" she said.

She had been caught. That stupid lawyer, Mia Fey, had this time got her convicted of murder. She really didn't care much, surprisingly, which was why she wasn't taking this court-ordered psychiatric evaluation very seriously. While she had been proven guilty, the judge still needed to sentence her for her crimes of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. She could be sentenced to death if the psychologist didn't find anything wrong with her. She didn't know whether she wanted to tell him the truth, and live; or intentionally mess up the meeting, and die. Both choices appealed to her. She paused, composing herself, and thinking on the dilemma. Finally, she made her choice.

"I… I don't think I'm entirely sane" Dahlia told him.

"Well, that is a fact we already knew due to the bizarre behaviour you exhibited during your time at the Detention Center" he said, "I want to know why you were doing those strange things"

"Strange things?" Dahlia said, her behaviour didn't seem strange to her, "What do you mean?"

The psychologist picked up a file from the desk and started reading from it.

"The guards report you seem to be talking to an object in your cell. They say you call it a 'Magatama'. You seem to be carrying on conversations with it" he said, "Why do you talk to it?"

"Because it's my only friend" she said, the words flying out, as if they had a mind of their own separate from hers.

She immediately regretted her answer. The psychologist must think she's really crazy now. She watched as he tried to hold back the surprised look that appeared on his face. He took to writing down a few notes on his clipboard.

"That was… interesting" he said, "Let's move onto something else, as you don't seem to be entirely comfortable talking about this subject. Am I right?"

She noticed that she had a look of absolute horror stretched out on her face. She composed herself as the man asked his next question.

"The guards also report that you are very reclusive, and have faked sickness and injury several times to get out of meeting with people. Why is that?" he asked.

"I don't like people" she said, her answer being more controlled than her previous outburst, "People are liars, and inside, we are all terrible, selfish human beings. I prefer to keep to myself."

"On what you just said about people, why do you think like that?" he said.

Damn. She knew the questions would eventually come to this. Would she tell him about the locks, about all the strange things she sees? Would he even believe her? She never told anybody about them before, why should she start with him? She didn't trust him, but she did have that incentive. That is, if she wanted to live.

"Ok…" she said, "I see things. Locks surrounding everyone."

"Locks?" the man said.

"Yes, locks, the kind you put a key into. They represent all the lies and secrets a person has had, or has ever told. I can't stop seeing them. Even you have some, right now" she said, "The only way they disappear is if I kill that person. They disappeared when Doug Swallows died."

"And you can see some of them on me?" he said,

"Yes, they're surrounding you, held up by chains" she said, "I think it's the Magatama, I think it's responsible for the locks."

She realized just how insane she sounded, but the locks were real. She knew they were real. She'd seen them when she was younger; she wasn't insane back then, so they had to be.

"They're real. The locks I mean" she said, "I could describe them to you. Please tell me you believe me."

"It's an interesting story, but I don't think I can believe you" he said, "I do, however, take what my patients say very seriously."

_CLANK!_

The guards had to restrain her when she jumped out of her seat, and started trying to claw the psychologist's eyes out. She got a few good scratches in before they managed to restrain her and drag her kicking and screaming back to her cell.

* * *

She sat in her prison cell. It was a few years since she was sentenced to death. After her talk with the psychologist, she had decided that she wanted to die. She couldn't take it anymore after that. She couldn't stand seeing anymore locks. It was funny, that she was like Terry in that regard, the suicidal tendencies, she meant. Her lawyer was planning on having her sentence reduced by using that meeting to prove she was insane. She, in turn, fired her lawyer, and thankfully, she was sentenced to death. She felt relieved. Finally, it could end. Well… it wouldn't end right away, of course. She had a small score to settle with her cousin, partially because she got her convicted of murder and was a general thorn in her side, and partially because she just didn't want to fully give in to death. She felt like a coward, setting herself up to die like this, so she had to kill Maya Fey, Mia's sister, to feel better, to make her feel like her death meant something. It was pathetic. She was pathetic… and apparently insane too. Anyway, she didn't care about life anymore, as she had nothing in life that she actually cared for. She used to care for Iris, but that was a long time ago, before she realized that Iris was sad and selfish. Her father was right all those years ago. Nothing really mattered in this screwed up world, least of all her, and everything dies, including her. Why should she care? She hoped that when she died, she'd stop seeing the locks. That was the most frustrating thing about living. However, she wouldn't be living for much longer anymore. Today was her execution date, and soon, she would die. She had all her affairs in order. Iris would be receiving all her things after she died, including her Magatama, which of course Dahlia would need. The red amulet always gave her courage, and she would be able to pick it up once she… arrived at the temple. As she waited, she thought back to her last conversation with her mother. Her mother had since been incarcerated due to being an accomplice to murder. The mother that Dahlia once knew was gone. There were so many locks over her, over the both of them. Her mother had changed into a cold and cruel woman. Well, not changed, because Dahlia realized her mother had always been cold and cruel, just like everybody. The only thing that changed was that she stopped bothering to hide it. But, she could thank her mother for one thing; she did give Dahlia a chance to kill Maya Fey. Dahlia could hardly care about why her mother wanted Maya dead, but she decided to take the chance. Eventually, she heard the door to her cell open. It was time.

* * *

She felt the hatred burning through her veins as she once again stood on the witness stand. The defense had just spent the last few minutes explaining to the court why she was a failure, to the point where she was starting to agree with them. She never had any true successes, ever since she had received that Magatama, her life had gone from bad to worse. All because people were liars, and betrayers, and only lived to use other people. She still saw the locks, this time on everybody in the courtroom. Everyone was surrounded by them. From the defense, to the prosecutor, to the judge and the people in the gallery, everybody had their lies and secrets, and _SHE COULD FEEL EVERY LAST ONE._ It felt like they were crushing her, those horrible things that _JUST WOULDN'T LEAVE HER ALONE._ Why did she see the locks? She was tempted to ask the courtroom whether any of them saw what she saw, but she knew that was an exercise in futility. She slid her hand down to the Magatama, tucked into her robes. Nobody in the court noticed, they were too focused on the glare she was giving them. She had every right to hate them. _THOSE HYPOCRITES. THOSE LIARS._ There they were, condemning her as a bad person, when they themselves were just as bad. At least she was honest, and admitted that she was an evil, selfish person who only did things for her own gain. They, on the other hand, had just as many locks beside them as she did, but pretended to have the moral high ground. _LIARS! _The prosecutor even murdered somebody! That she was able to find out when those damn locks would appear whenever he said that he didn't know who killed Misty Fey. She clutched the Magatama. For some reason, it didn't give her courage anymore. It just felt… empty inside, just like her, she supposed. She wondered why she was doing this. She was tired of it all. Of all the lies, and all the locks. _SHE COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE. _She collapsed onto the witness stand, clutching her head as she looked at the wood on the bench. All her crimes, all those memories rushed through her head. _JUST STOP!_ She didn't even resist when she felt her spirit yanked from Maya's body, and banished back to the Spirit Realm.

* * *

Well… THAT went better than expected, she thought. She had just been dragged before a court… no sorry, a _tribunal_, comprised of some elder spirits, which meant mostly Feys. It seemed that, for some reason, courts were required in the afterlife. Whatever that reason was, Dahlia didn't know. The afterlife as a whole was strange. It wasn't at all like she expected. There was no Heaven, or Hell, no eternal punishments. There was only a place where spirits gathered after death, no matter what they had done in their lives. The good people weren't separated from the bad people. Of course, there was also the option that this place WAS in fact Hell, because nobody is a truly good person. Anyway, the _tribunal_ had decided to punish her for trying to kill Maya Fey. They had forbid her from being channeled again, until, in their words, "her behaviour improved", which was just as well, because she didn't want to be channeled again. She was tired of that world. To add insult to injury, they made Mia Fey the one to decide when she could be channeled again. She didn't care though; she just didn't want to be channeled again. She had no reason to want to, being the miserable failure she was. She just didn't care anymore, not about revenge, or death, or anything, for that matter. She lost, and she would never be able to hurt Mia Fey the same way her cousin hurt her. She just accepted that. As she walked away, she began to notice something. It had been tugging at her mind for a while, but she wasn't exactly paying complete attention to her surroundings. The spirits she saw, they were normal. There were no locks surrounding them, no chains that holding them in place. Tears started flowing down from Dahlia's eyes. She didn't know spirits could cry. She just continued walking, to some secluded corner where she could be alone. It was over, all that trouble she went through. Those damned locks… she didn't have to see them any longer. It was a relief. For the first time in her short life, she felt at peace. She just sat there, red hair flowing behind her, tickling her shoulders, as she gazed out onto the Realm. It… was… over. She liked death. She didn't want to think about the locks any more, those black and red creations that haunted her mind for all these years. But… she would never have to see any of them again. She didn't know if it was because that power only manifested itself in the Physical Realm, or because spirits didn't need to lie, didn't need to keep secrets. Everybody was still terrible, but maybe, here at least, they were less so. Suddenly, she started laughing. She HAD won. The goal she had had for almost her whole life, to stop seeing the locks, was now complete. She could live with that success. Not even the failure of her crimes or Mia Fey herself could stop her from feeling happy at that. She wasn't a complete failure after all. She reached into her pocket to look at her Magatama, but found that it wasn't there. She laughed at herself. Why on earth did she think it would follow her here? It was physical, she was nothing, and she always was. She didn't need it though, and truth be told, she was glad when she didn't find it. Another thought occurred to her. What if it was the Magatama that gave her that power, and because it wasn't in the Spirit Realm, that's why the locks weren't invading her mind. She wondered for a second the trinket had ended up in the end, but dismissed it. She soon after fell asleep there, exhausted, watching the rolling landscape of the Realm pass in front of her. She was finally happy, even if she wouldn't get her revenge. That was nice. She felt at peace, and she smiled, her first genuine smile in a long, long time.

* * *

Maya leaned against the wall of Phoenix's apartment. Phoenix was making burgers for the two of them. The last trial had taken a lot out of all who were involved. Dahlia, Godot, her mother. All those revelations took their toll on her. However, she had to stay strong, for Pearl, and trust that everything was going to be okay.

"So Maya" Nick said, "Do you want cheese or not?"

"What do you think, Nick?" she said, "We've gone out to eat enough times for you to know what I like."

He smiled at her. She trusted him completely, because of all he had done for her. She had no reason not to trust him, he had helped her all those times when she was in trouble. She walked into her bedroom, the room where Nick had let her sleep when they first met each other three years ago. She yawned, and fell back on the small bed. She just needed to lie down for a bit. However, when she hit the bed, she felt something pressing against her side. She rolled over and found the object tucked in the bedsheets. She picked it up. It was a bright red Magatama. She must have received it as a gift somewhere, and it must have fallen out of her robes while she was sleeping. She examined it. It wasn't damaged or anything. That was good. She would hate to see the look on the face of whichever Mystic had given it to her if they found out it had been damaged. She wouldn't hear the end of it. She tossed it up, before catching it on the way down. She had learned to trust the symbol of her clan ever since she heard the details of the exorcism that occurred at the last trial. She just stared at it.

"Maya" she heard Nick yell, "Dinner's ready."

She walked back into the kitchen, sticking the Magatama back into her robes. She was reminded of a question she wanted to ask him ever since the end of the last trial.

"Nick" she said, "Do you still have any feelings for Iris?"

He turned and looked straight at her. Hopefully, Maya thought, not because she had just mentioned his old girlfriend's name.

"Why are you asking?" he said.

"Because… because I love you, Nick" she said, "I want to find out whether or not you're still in love with her."

"What happened between me and Iris happened years ago" he said, "I've moved on, so no, I'm not in love with her."

_CLANK!_

A red lock appeared in front of him. What? What just happened? Psyche Locks… no, please say it wasn't true.

"I… I believe you" she said.

_CLANK!_

She looked down and saw a lock had appeared in front of her.

"Maya, what's wrong?" he said.

"Nothing" she said, "Nothing. I'm just not hungry anymore."

_CLANK!_

The sound was ringing in her ears.

"Please, Maya" he said, "I'm worried for you. I care about you more than anything."

_CLANK!_

_CLANK!  
CLANK!  
CLANK!_

THE END.

**Author's Note: I got the idea for this story while thinking about Psyche-Locks, and what it would be like if you could see them in real life, which caused to come to the conclusion… that it really suck. So, I decided to write a story where somebody is driven insane by them. I am also planning on eventually writing another **_**Ace Attorney **_**fanfic where one of the villains also has this ability. However, I first decided to test it out by giving it to everybody's favourite redhead. The villain in the other story has the same power, but, as she is both a broker of information, and a cynic, she isn't so… adversely affected by it. It both helps her, giving her people's secrets, and confirms her already firm views of people. I hope you all liked it. **

**Also, Dahlia's general cynicism, as well as the last section, was inspired by the Dahlia-fic **_**Redemption**_**, which is currently on the site, and is very good. So, if you haven't, I suggest checking it out.**


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